


Spring Awakening

by satb31



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Era, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Flowers, Graduation, M/M, Picnics, Prom, Spring, Walks In The Park
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 21:57:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 2,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1663856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satb31/pseuds/satb31
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of three-sentence fics on spring-related themes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Joly/Combeferre: Care and Keeping of Spring Plants

“I think we should call Prouvaire,” Joly implored, crossing his arms across his chest as he stood behind Combeferre, watching his boyfriend as he rooted around the flower beds on the side of their garage, impatiently snipping at the vines that had stubbornly wrapped themselves around the hostas and cursing as he tugged plant after plant out of the garden by their roots.

“I do not need Prouvaire,” Combeferre said through gritted teeth, shooting a glare at Joly as he sat back on his heels and pushed his sweat-dampened hair out of his face with the back of his sooty hand, adding huffily, “I have a degree from one of the top medical schools in the country, so I think I can handle a little weeding without your ex-boyfriend’s help, thank you very much – so hand me that trowel so I can dig these ridiculous pink things out of here.”

Joly rolled his eyes and handed him the tool — but when Combeferre turned back to the task at hand, he surreptitiously slid his phone out of his pocket to send a text to Prouvaire that read, “Come quick – Combeferre’s digging up the tulips.”


	2. Jehan/Joly: A Walk in the Woods

Joly and Jehan were both remarkably pleased to be away from Paris, if only for a fortnight; Prouvaire had been called to his ancestral home in the south to deal with family business, and he had not wished to make the journey alone, so he had persuaded Joly to accompany him for two weeks of wine and relaxation, punctuated by daily walks in the forest surrounding the Prouvaire family land.

In the city they tended to go their separate ways, even as members of the same group of friends – Joly, in his eternal quest to discern the rhythms of his own body, was prone to drinking and partaking in the pleasures of the flesh, while Jehan’s concern with matters of his soul led him to spend much of his time in silent contemplation or quiet discussion – but in those woods, they found a shared passion for changing their world, whether it was by letters or medicine, and discovered they possessed considerably more in common temperamentally than they would have thought a dozen days before.

In the future, when they looked back on that sojourn, neither of them could recall which one of them had taken the other’s hand as they strolled, or which one of them had backed the other against a tree and leaned in for a kiss, but nevertheless by the time they had returned to Paris, the seedling of a love affair had sprouted and was beginning to grow.


	3. Jehan/Combeferre: Caught in a Storm

It had become a habit for Prouvaire and Combeferre to stroll every day through the streets of Paris; their strolls served both as an opportunity for the two men to get to know every corner of the city of which neither of them was a native, as well as an excuse for the two friends to develop knowledge of each other’s innermost thoughts as they walked and talked of literature and the arts, of France’s tumultuous past and its dawning future.

That May day had dawned brightly, the sun warming the two men on their sojourn, a warmth both remarkably unseasonable and slightly unsettling to Prouvaire, who loosened his frayed cravat as he glanced over at Combeferre, whose glasses were fogged with condensation; behind Combeferre he could see dark, low clouds settling in over the city, thick with the possibility of thunder and rain.

The rain came upon them quickly, soaking their clothing as they ran back to Combeferre’s rooms, thankful that the tempest had commenced early in their journey; once inside, Combeferre briefly forgot he had a visitor and began to strip off his damp clothes, to young Prouvaire’s obvious delight — and as the storm raged outside, their explorations of the city shifted to a thorough examination of each other.


	4. Marius/Cosette: Invitation to the Prom

Marius had admired Cosette from afar for three years now, ever since she had transferred to his public school after eight years among the nuns at a tiny Catholic girls’ school, but a combination of fear of her strict father and his general discomfort with making conversation conspired to keep him from ever asking her on a date, despite the near-constant teasing of his best friend, Courfeyrac.

But as the senior prom approached, Marius knew this could be his last shot, his last opportunity to let Cosette know how he felt about her before they went their separate ways for college, envisioning a magical evening of dinner and dancing and a sweet kiss outside her house at the end of it, but although he could envision the prom itself, he could not figure out a way to get up his nerve to pose the question.

It was Courfeyrac who finally pushed the issue one day, after months of listening to Marius’s neurotic rambling about Cosette, finally grabbing Cosette by the arm and tugging her toward the table where Marius sat picking at a turkey sandwich; “Ask her, or I will,” Courfeyrac implored Marius, whose close proximity to the object of his desire had rendered him completely speechless, even as she smiled knowingly and answered the question that hung in the air quietly — and affirmatively.


	5. Enjolras/Combeferre/Courfeyrac: Failed Picnic

Enjolras and Combeferre hadn’t spoken in over a week — a rarity for the old friends, Courfeyrac knew, much as he knew that strife among the leaders of Les Amis would not make organizing their upcoming protest particularly easy or stress-free — so Courfeyrac decided to stage an intervention in the form of a picnic at a local park, inviting each man to the event without telling the other he would be there.

Courfeyrac spared no expense for this reconciliation, including stopping by a local deli to pick up a selection of decadent salads, choosing a couple of the best wines from his wine rack, and ordering a dozen cupcakes in his friends’ favorite varieties — red velvet for Enjolras, carrot for Combeferre, and chocolate for himself; he arrived early to set up a tablecloth and real plates and a bouquet of flowers, hoping that a civilized picnic would lead to civilized discussion.

When Combeferre and Enjolras arrived — coming from two different directions, but both precisely on time — they eyed each other warily, but sat down and began to eat and engage small talk about the weather and their frosting preferences; but no sooner had Courfeyrac exhaled a sigh of relief, thinking that they had finally put their differences aside, Enjolras made an offhand comment that earned him a stony glare from Combeferre, and Courfeyrac could only drown his sorrows in fudgy frosting as his two friends’ cold war turned hot.


	6. Enjolras/Combeferre: Graduation

“He’ll be here, I know it,” Courfeyrac reassured Combeferre, who was standing a few people ahead of him in line, his face crumpled with concern as he kept looking back at the long line of graduates behind him, trying to spot his missing boyfriend among the Es, knowing he had been down in the city attending a protest the night before and worrying that he had somehow managed to get himself thrown in jail on the eve of their college graduation, despite Courfeyrac’s assertion to the contrary.

Combeferre and Enjolras had been friends since childhood and lovers since the year before last — a deepening of their relationship that Courfeyrac, as the third side of their triumvirate, had encouraged (“oh, will the two of you just fuck already!” he’d proclaimed one evening as his two friends glared at each other across the table; after Courfeyrac had disappeared, they did just that) — but it was a relationship that sometimes knocked the even-keeled Combeferre off-kilter, particularly when Enjolras’s passion for justice and revolution got the better of him, making it a surprise in some quarters that he had even managed to complete the requirements for his degree.

“See, I told you he’d be here,” Courfeyrac proclaimed triumphantly, jerking his thumb behind him to where the blond young man dashed in, his cap askew and out of breath; Combeferre didn’t know where he’d been (and frankly, didn’t want to know), but he released all of the tension that had built up in one cleansing breath, grateful that the man he’d loved for so long and in so many ways would be there for the commencement of their post-collegiate lives together.


	7. Jehan/Courfeyrac: Picnic

Prouvaire knew for certain that Courfeyrac was a man of tremendous appetites — for food and wine and sunshine and politics, not to mention love affairs of all varieties — so on a bright and temperate May afternoon, he proposed a picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens as a way to sate those appetites all at once, working with Grantaire to procure all of the best food and drink, which he packed into a valise and hefted over his shoulder to meet Courfeyrac, who greeted him resplendent in his best waistcoat and cravat, having already spread out a blanket for them to recline on while they dined.

If the way to a man’s heart is indeed through his stomach, Prouvaire was well on his way to Courfeyrac’s; Courfeyrac consumed the repast with a passion he normally reserved for arguing with his fellow members of Les Amis, savoring every bite and sip as the two friends ate and conversed, then cocking his head at Prouvaire with a lascivious question on his lips: “What is for dessert, my dearest Jehan?”

“Something quite decadent, I assure you,” Prouvaire replied airily, his blue eyes poring over the aspiring lawyer, who had loosened his cravat and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his waistcoat and was lying on his back, the sun warming his face as he let the rich meal and heady wine wash over him; but ultimately it did not take much persuasion on Prouvaire’s part to convince Courfeyrac to bring the picnic indoors for the final course.


	8. Jehan/Azelma: Flower Field

At first glance Prouvaire is not sure where he knows the dark-haired girl from — he has to put down the volume of poetry he was reading to rise up on his elbows, squinting across the meadow of wildflowers in an attempt to discern her identity; after several minutes of staring, he recognizes her as the younger sister of the girl who used to visit his dear friend Courfeyrac’s acquaintance Marius.

She is quite altered, he notices as she draws closer — now most certainly a woman, and one who has managed to find her way into a higher standard of living, one that allows her to wear finer clothes and affords her the leisure time to stroll about picking wildflowers — and it is a change that flatters her immensely, no matter what she has done to achieve it.

“Monsieur Prouvaire?” she inquires as she approaches, a loose bouquet in her hand; he stands to greet her, brushing his hands off on his threadbare trousers as he finally recalls her name and bows toward her stiffly and formally, looking away and blushing as he murmurs, half to himself, “It is a delight to see you, Mademoiselle Azelma.”


	9. Combeferre/Courfeyrac: Butterfly

Courfeyrac lifted his tousled head off the pillow as he rubbed his eyes and stretched his compact well muscled body, his legs tangling in the sheets as he turned over to face Combeferre, who was sitting up beside him, his face scrunched up in concentration behind his glasses as he sketched furiously on a drawing pad, not even noticing his boyfriend had awakened.

“What are you doing?” Courfeyrac asked, his voice still thick with sleepiness as he lazily stroked Combeferre’s bare arm and craned his neck to peer at the lines on the paper; “Butterflies,” Combeferre replied, not looking up, adding, “I’ve drawn moths from memory, so now I’m inspired to try their more colorful counterparts, that’s all.”

“Was I so good I gave you butterflies?” Courfeyrac teased with a low chuckle, which earned him a smack with the drawing pad; undaunted, he clamored on top of Combeferre, snatched the pad out of his hand and tossed it on the floor, kissing him hungrily and murmuring, “Let me give you an even better subject for you to draw from memory.”


	10. Enjolras/Grantaire: Daffodils

Grantaire hasn’t spoken to Enjolras in two weeks, and Prouvaire can tell it’s gnawing at him — he never thought it was possible for Grantaire to consume as much wine or spend as much time in his room brooding, likely blaming himself for whatever has driven them apart — so he pokes and prods at Grantaire over dinner, trying to get him to admit what has gone so wrong.

It was a fight, Prouvaire learns, and although the news does not surprise him, as the two men fight constantly, it’s clear that this time Grantaire regrets much of what he said, accusing Enjolras of caring more about the cause than about those who loved him; Prouvaire can sense that he wants to tell Enjolras he is sorry, but to do so would reveal a vulnerability only Prouvaire has ever been allowed to witness, so he suggests he communicate his feelings through an alternative means.

Daffodils, Prouvaire suggests, as Grantaire rolls his eyes at the bright yellow flowers, their brightness almost blinding to him as they stand in the flower shop, his head pounding from the previous night’s binge; but as he makes the purchase and writes Enjolras’s address on the card, Prouvaire’s explanation of the significance of that particular flower resonates with him — and hopes his boyfriend will accept it as a symbol of new beginnings.


	11. Combeferre/Eponine: A Walk in the Park

To Combeferre, a walk in the park together seemed like the type of thing a boyfriend should do — he wasn’t particularly experienced in that role, certainly, but he had this vague sense that it was something that Eponine, having lived so much of her life in the dark bowels of the city, without the benefits of fresh air and the smell of freshly cut grass, would appreciate, even as he himself knew that spring pollen tended to make his whole head feel like it was dripping.

But he downed his allergy pills — his usual two, plus one more for good measure — and shoved a wad of tissues in his jeans pocket and walked over to Eponine’s flat to meet her on a breezy day in May, knowing he sounded just like Joly, with his stuffed-up nose flattening most of his consonants, which made him the focus of her teasing and laughter the entire way over to the park.

Once they arrived at the park, she took his arm and flashed her crooked grin at him, and he almost forgot about his seasonal misery as he savored both the scenery and the company, sharing his extensive knowledge of plant varieties, even the ones that tended to make him sneeze; however, as soon as they found a place to sit and rest, he lay back in the grass and the extra allergy pill conspired to knock him unconscious for a good hour — but when he awoke to a contented Eponine curled against him, the sun warming her pallid skin, his discomfort and congestion seemed completely worthwhile.


	12. Combeferre/Courfeyrac/Jehan: Hot Tub

Courfeyrac was housesitting at his parents’ house for a week while they were traveling abroad, which meant he had an entire week away from the cramped apartment he shared with Marius, as well as unfettered access to two of his favorite rooms in their house — the well-stocked wine cellar and their enormous hot tub — so he texted Combeferre a nude photo of himself amid the bubbles, holding an enormous glass of wine, as a way of inviting his boyfriend to join him; in response, Combeferre texted him back quickly with a single question: “Mind if I bring Prouvaire?”

Courfeyrac grinned in anticipation of their arrival — he had certainly contemplated what it would be like to be with his current and former boyfriend at the same time, but he never thought it would ever actually happen; he still wasn’t entirely sure it was just a dream, even as he watched Combeferre and Jehan strip off their clothes and join him in the steaming tub, their bodies so different from each other and yet both so familiar to Courfeyrac.

Courfeyrac barely had time to put down his glass before they descended on him, Combeferre pulling him toward him and kissing him on the lips, rubbing his hard cock against Courfeyrac’s while Prouvaire nuzzled the back of his neck and stroked every inch of his body, his own erection pressing against Courfeyrac’s back; they were making him their literal center, and Courfeyrac would have it no other way.


End file.
